Breaking News. More Significant Findings at Tara

Yet another find over the past few days of Neolitihic underground chambers has been made at Tara and which have been kept from public knowledge by the Government and the road contractors. For more details see the brief report below.

A team of activists over the past few days have uncovered the remains of 6 chambers at the souterrain (underground pit) beside the Lismullen Henge, but due now only 2 to 3 chambers remain.

In one of the chambers, there is still a good bit of the passage which is quite long and zigzags connecting the chambers. The flagstone is Neolithic and may have been recycled from the souterrain which are often lined with such flagstones. There is also rock art and it has two interconnected circles and above a line of zigzags. This is similar to the types of designs one would see in NewGrange. All of this raises the very strong possibility that the whole area is very significant and has other findings yet to be demolished for the sake of the motorway.

Mechanical diggers are working on this site for the next few weeks. This is how the government now looks upon our great heritage.

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The following press release has just been issued.
To fill people in: on Friday afternoon I got a
call from a supporter to say that he had a tip off that megalithic art
had been discovered at the souterrain at Lismullin.
I did not want to go to press without full confirmation so I had to wait
for photographs. Thank you campaigners/protesters for the wonderful
shots from yesterday. These are their photos given to me last night.
I also had to await confirmation from the expert archaeologists. I
received that in the last short while. I have had a lot of help in
writing the press release from an archaeologist so I am taking no credit
for the work or the photos.
Well done everyone and thank you - you know who you are.

PRESS RELEASE
MEGALITHIC ART FOUND AT LISMULLIN SOUTERRAIN

The Save Tara campaign has learned that a decorated stone bearing
megalithic art similar to that at Newgrange and Knowth (of Neolithic
date c.3000 B.C.) has been found incorporated into part of an Early
Historic souterrain currently being dismantled as part of the M3
archaeological works in the vicinity of the henge at Lismullin, in the
Gabhra Valley, County Meath. The nearest example of megalithic art is to
be found in the passage tomb of the Mound of the Hostages on the summit
of the Hill of Tara AND In terms of style this example also bears a
remarkable similarity to that found in this monument.

The decorated stone was noticed on Friday (30 November) by campaigners
who took the accompanying photographs over the weekend. It exhibits a
series of motifs commonly found in passage tomb contexts - concentric
circles, nested arcs and zig-zags. It is likely this stone was robbed
from a nearby passage tomb during the construction of the souterrain in
the early centuries AD. Indeed, it has been suggested that the large
mound in the grounds of LismullIn house may be that of a passage tomb.

The promontory fort of Rath Lugh (under temporary preservation order)
overlooks the henge (a declared national monument) and the souterrain
complex that have been unearthed at Lismullin and the
discovery of the stone is further evidence of the importance of this
area and its continued use through the millennia of Irish history.

The excavation of the henge and the souterrain continues and will
probably be completed before Christmas. This will allow the NRA to begin
the construction phase of the motorway in this delicate and sensitive
area of the Gabhra Valley.
The motorway will pass within 20/30m of the huge monument of Rath Lugh
despite NRA assurances that it would be 110m away from it.

The EU is taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice because of
their ongoing breaches of various environmental directives in
particularly in relation to Environmental Impact Statements. EU
Environment Commissioner Dimas said in a recent press release:

"I am disappointed that Ireland has not accepted the Commission view
that improvements are needed in its legislation on impact assessments in
order to better safeguard, and give the public more say in decisions
affecting, its rich archaeological heritage, and to better guarantee
that industrial projects will be comprehensively assessed".

Save Tara campaigners are asking the EU and the Commissioner to take an
injunction against the Irish Government to stop all attempts at
construction in the short disputed section of the M3 in the Gabhra
Valley until the ECJ has completed its deliberations on this case.
Photographs available here: http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u167/muireanntemair/...2007/

It's not unusual for mechanical diggers to be used on archaeological sites nor is it 'bad practice' per say. Digger drivers are often highly skilled and all work using diggers on sites is usually monitored by an archaeologist. Campaigners are just undermining their other valid arguments by shouting about mechanical diggers being used on sites.

Digger said
... and by the way souterains are not Neolithic as stated in the article. They are broadly early medieval in date. Getting your facts wrong also undermines your arguments.
It says:
"The decorated stone was noticed on Friday (30 November) by campaigners
who took the accompanying photographs over the weekend. It exhibits a
series of motifs commonly found in passage tomb contexts - concentric
circles, nested arcs and zig-zags. It is likely this stone was robbed
from a nearby passage tomb during the construction of the souterrain in
the early centuries AD. Indeed, it has been suggested that the large
mound in the grounds of LismullIn house may be that of a passage tomb."

It does not say that souterrains are Neolitic - it says AD. I am well aware of the date of souterrains. In fact the press release from the campaign does not use the word Neolithic, the stone is megalithic, confirmed by an expert now and by the NRA archaeologist.
Neither did I mention a digger - and yes, in certain cases diggers are necessary but there have been nothing but diggers used at Tara where one would expect best practice - this is not best practice.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I'd like to add the following that I put on the SaveTara Yahoo group (which is down so it hasn't gone through)
Hi all,
The court was quite fascinating today. The next date is 21st January but in the circumstances it seems unlikely that this date will see the end of it at all. In fact that may be adjourned as well. We shall see.
There are some serious problems regarding "disclosure" of certain documents. Enough said. If people want more information they can mail me privately.
Thanks to RTE reporter Richard Dowling for his continuing interest and for being in court today to hear the whole thing. He will hopefully visit the stone at Lismullin as well. No camera outside the court obviously as there was no case happening. We had the place to ourselves today - very quiet and strange.
The eminent archaeologist George Eogan was on site at Lismullin this morning first thing apparently - I didn't get to talk to him. But he spent a lot of time there with Donald Murphy of ACS.
I heard from a journalist who rang the NRA that the archaeologist Ronan Swan who works on Lismullin (son of the late and lovely man, Leo Swan) that he agrees that the art dates from the same time as Mound of the Hostages and Knowth/Newgrange. So the fuss was rightly made.
The stone may have been damaged when placed in the souterrain and there may be another piece in the area.
But - Sean O Neill, the NRA PR spin doctor is accusing the protesters of damaging the site when they went in. Now this is serious - two names appeared on a Yahoo group message taken from i don't know where. That is why I did not put any names on my mail of yesterday when I thanked them. I hope their naming does not get them into trouble ...
Ronan Swan said that he had not heard any reports of damage but that he had not been onsite today. He agrees with the points in the press release that the stone was probably re-used and from nearby.
At least the media have taken some interest today - sometimes it feels like the press releases are falling into a black hole in cyberspace.

may have come from a passage grave in the area. I have it from the archaeologists that stones like this were re-used and "borrowed" and even broken in formed other buildings like souterrains.
There are a number of possible passage graves in the area - but they have not been excavated. The whole area at Rath Lugh and Lismullin (Rath Lugh looks down on the henge/souterrain/stone) is an archaeological complex in itself.

Salvaging building materials from no longer in use buildings for the construction of new structures was quite common up to very recently. It stands to reason that the stone(s) decorated with neolithic artwork recently found near the medieval souterrains at Lismullin were salvaged from a much older structure within easy walking distance of the souterrains.

There seems to be a degree of unhealthy scepticism about the stone , it is undoubtedly similar to the megalithic art found in Irish passage graves e.g. Knowth , Newgrange etc and the practice of re-use of marked rocks from the Neolithic-Bronze Age in later monuments like is not uncommon at least in Scotland whereI could name 12 souterrains and duns/forts with reused marked rocks . Truth is stranger than your fiction Damien .

article at the beginning of this thread was not written by me. I'm referring to the press release. The first message is by anon - I use my name.
The press release that I sent out is correct, the stone is megalithic, this was confirmed yesterday by both G. Eogan - eminent archaeologist and also by the NRA archaeologist to a reporter.
There is no crying wolf and I am not responsible for inaccurate articles posted by others. I have always made sure with those who know that my information is correct. The photographs were viewed by archaeologists who know their material before I sent the release and the photograph out.
If you want to find fault - at least blame the right person.

Unfortunately the nature of even "normal" archaeology is to excavate = bring back to the first act of the builders = destroy.
Archaeology is destruction which is why geophysical surveys are the future and can show what is underground without putting a spade in the ground.
The souterrain stones are lying around as were the stones taken from the graves at Collierstown and the remaining bones scattered there and at Baronstown.
Bad enough the souterrain but the amount of bodies taken from the ground at Tara an other sites is mounting and is an unmitigated disgrace.

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the graves are trashed - the souterrain is gone - the stone is hauled away to some lab
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the bones of the ceremonial burial of the hound at Lismullin( Iron Age ? )are stuffed in some bin liner somewhere
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- but the evidence is now incontravertible that there there are more megalithic structures in the valley than we now know of
not just the Mound of the Hostages as was thought to be the case
- and this stone has now been dated on stylistic grouds to be older than Newgrange -
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and that there are many secrets from many different Ages
which will be lost forever if it goes down to concrete
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that the whole valley should be regarded as of archaeologial importance
and declared a National Monument
and a Heritage Park
..and be left for our children
and the doorway into the Past not destroyed by this generation
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marcella
-http://www.tarataratara.net
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I meant ALSO to mentiom the " I Walk the Line "
walk on New Years Day
along parts of the already existing - but disused - Navan Dublin railway
to draw attention to its existance
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and a more sustainable answer to the problems of the increasing numbers of people commuting into Dublin
- more respectful of Heritage - more ecofriendly - safer and faster
and would save the Tara Skryne valley from more destruction
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there will be details of time - route - flyers etc
and possibly a sponsorship form
from http://www.sacredireland.orghttp://meathmasterplan.com/index1a.html
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- also downloadble from http://www.tarataratara.net/Tara_Meath_Master_Plan.htm
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it looks a long way but it isnt uphill or anything ...and we will only walk as far as we can ...
; ) best love
marcella -
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